Taiping: China’s Nineteenth-Century Civil War
Partially coinciding with the American Civil War, the Taiping “Rebellion” in China was one of the most destructive conflicts in history.
Becoming the British Virgin Islands
Grappling with a history shaped by colonialism, the British Virgin Islands have built a national identity that embraces change while distancing the neighbors.
Gonna Make You a (Bangsawan) Star
The bangsawan theater in early twentieth-century Malaya offered women a chance to build a public identity beyond marriage and motherhood.
The Deep Roots of Mughal Tolerance
Under Akbar, the Mughal Empire instituted a policy known as sulh-i kull, which called for amicable reconciliation and tolerance toward all religions.
Foreign Magic in Imperial Rome
Roman ideas about witchcraft were often associated with distant regions, including India and the Kush kingdom in northeast Africa.
Going Postal at the Qiaopiju
The Chinese Qiaopiju, or “overseas letter offices,” lasted for a century, ending only when the foreign governments implemented anti-communist banking controls.
Lai Teck, International Man of Mystery
A Vietnamese double agent who infiltrated and led the Communist Party of Malaya in the 1930s, Lai Teck also spied for the British and the Japanese.
Buddhist Pacifists at War
In the early centuries of Vajrayāna Buddhism in India, practitioners worked to reconcile the religion’s teaching of nonviolence with the realities of warfare.
Building the Olympic Games
A close connection between architecture, athletics, and the urban fabric is central to the idea of the modern Olympic Games.